Tom Cruise 'given blessing' for One Shot

Tom Cruise is would not have taken on the part of Jack Reacher in 'One Shot' without the permission of original book's author.

The 'Mission: Impossible' star has come under much scrutiny for being too short to be playing the character - who is described as being six foot five inches tall in the book - but he admits he would not have agreed to take part had he not have had permission from Lee Childs.

He said: "This is Lee's book and Lee's character. Him giving me his blessing is what made me do it. If he hadn't then I wouldn't have done it.

"Lee told me that the reason he wrote him that size is because that was just one element of his character, and that opened the door to me playing him."

Tom - who will star alongside Rosamund Pike in the film - admits he is excited to be doing part because Jack is such an unusual character.

He told Empire magazine: "Reacher is such a great character. He doesn't have a cell phone, he doesn't have email. He's off the grid.

"He pays for things in cash. People look at things through the prism of the colours of their life, but Jack Reacher does things the way we want to sometimes. In that sense he's sort of a Dirty Harry, a James Bond, a Josey Wales."